New Delhi:
National Award-winning actress Vidya Balan says Indian actresses are finally in a position to avoid being objectified on screen anymore.
"Time has absolutely changed," Vidya told news agency IANS when asked for her take on the objectification of women in Bollywood.
"I have seen this change for the past five to six years when I started doing films like Ishqiya or No One Killed Jessica. I personally believe that women are not willing to be objectified on screen anymore, they feel that they can object to being objectified. That's why there is not much of objectification on screen of women anymore," the actress, 36, said.
Time and again, Vidya has made unique choices for her silver screen appearances.
The actress, who made her film debut in 2005 with
Parineeta, has repeatedly proved her versatility. She played the manipulative Krishna in
Ishqiya; the strong-willed Sabrina in
No One Killed Jessica; Vidya Bagchi, a woman with a vegeance in
Kahaani; an unwed mother in
Paa; and the bold Silk in
The Dirty Picture.
Her last release was Mohit Suri's
Hamari Adhuri Kahani in which she played a married woman who is a victim of domestic violence.
"If I talk about domestic violence, I never understood it. I have been brought up in an environment of freedom and independence and I cannot understand why anyone can keep quiet when they are abused, especially a grown-up woman. So for this role, I had to first mentally prepare myself to accept these things.
"I had to realise that it's not just about domestic violence, but believing that you are actually your husband's property and this attitude is quite prevalent amongst us Indians," the actress said.
She has now featured in a music video which aims at spreading the message that 'judging a woman on the basis of her appearance is trivial.'
"You have the ability to do whatever you want to do. A woman usually gets judged because of her appearance. A woman with short hair is modern and liberal, whereas a woman with tied or long hair is old-fashioned and conservative. Hence, this music video is about breaking stereotypes," Vidya said.
In the video, Vidya features as a
sutradhar along with four Bengali TV actresses, Aparajita Ghosh, Tumpa Gosh, Madhumita Sarkar and Sudipta Chakraborty.
Vidya also feels that that one way of getting rid of crime against women is by becoming "economically independent."
"Money is power and if you see, there are a lot of times a woman faces issues because they are not economically independent. So, economic independence gives you freedom of choice. Also education is what makes a difference," said the actress, who also feels that we are not living in a "progressive society in absolute sense".
"There are pockets that are progressive and they have education, awareness and opportunities, but there are parallel realities. We entrust the power of our lives to them (men). They began to abuse that power in a lot of ways and this is the reason why even educated men feel that they have the right to do anything with women," Vidya said, and stressed that every woman had the right to 'lead life on her own terms.'